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ABINSK, Russia, Dec 28- As U.S. and European sanctions piled pressure on Russia earlier this year, the Kremlin hit back with an unusual weapon: apples. A day after Russia decreed Polish apples forbidden, Gennady Timchenko, who made a fortune from oil trading during Putin's years in power, applied to buy a large stake in one of Russia's biggest apple producers.

LONDON, Dec 16- Russia's failed defense of the rouble and a plummeting oil price added to a global emerging markets rout on Tuesday that sent bourses lower in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The MSCI emerging stocks index traded 1.6 percent lower, on track for an eighth day in the red while the Asia excluding Japan benchmark dropped 0.7 percent.

LODZ, Poland, Dec 14- The European Union has given Poland more than 100 million euros to build at least three "ghost" airports in places where there are not enough passengers to keep them in business. Poland is not the only country in Europe to have built airports that struggle to attract flights. Poland received 615.7 million euros in EU support for airports between...

OMISALJ, Croatia, Dec 10- Spurred by the demise of Russia's South Stream gas pipeline project, Croatia has revived a decade-old idea of building a liquefied natural gas import terminal at the deepwater oil port of Omisalj on the island of Krk. But the Ukraine crisis and the collapse of South Stream have refocused minds in central and eastern European nations on...

*Poland to spend nearly a third of 2015 budget on pensions. OPOLE, Poland, Dec 5- "I'm staying here! After 1.2 million of its citizens migrated in the ten years since Poland joined the European Union, the country is counting the economic and social cost.

Russia will "lose trillions" from the sanctions by entering an "unnecessary confrontation" with Ukraine, Radoslaw Sikorski, speaker of the Parliament and former Foreign Minister of Poland, adding that a unified Europe is needed to respond to Vladimir Putin..

*Gangs in Poland, Baltics selling illegal documents. LONDON, Dec 4- Andriy left his home town in western Ukraine earlier this year on a journey that brought him through the hands of shady traders in Poland to one of the world's booming markets for illegal immigrants- London. Fleeing the strife of war with Russian-backed fighters and a shattered economy, Andriy is...

BUDAPEST, Nov 6- Poland's zloty is expected to lead a firming of Central European currencies against the euro in the next 12 months as the region's economies are set to outperform the struggling euro zone, analysts said in a Reuters poll. The consensus forecasts show the Czech crown gaining 1.3 percent to 27.45 versus the euro, Hungary's forint strengthening 0.8...

BUDAPEST/ WARSAW, Nov 5- The global financial crisis hit hard in central and eastern Europe, but one industry has thrived: second-hand clothing stores. Second-hand clothes retailers in Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and Croatia have grown rapidly and, as the pace of income convergence between the West and Eastern Europe slows, they are investing millions of euros to...

*Negative impact of Russia- Ukraine crisis seen smaller. WARSAW, Nov 3- Manufacturing in Poland, ex-communist central Europe's largest economy, returned to growth in October, starting to catch up with stronger expansion in the Czech Republic and Hungary in a sign of regional robustness in the face of Russian sanctions. "It generally looks like central European...

*Paves the way for U.N. talks in Paris next year. The EU's 2030 goal should inject momentum ahead of a U.N. summit to be hosted by Paris in 2015 to seek a global pact on curbing climate change. Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, tweeted the decision gave "valuable momentum for Paris 2015".

*Paves the way for U.N. talks in Paris next year. The EU's 2030 goal should inject momentum ahead of a U.N. summit to be hosted by Paris in 2015 to seek a global pact on curbing climate change. Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, tweeted the decision gave "valuable momentum for Paris 2015.".

*General Electric said considering sale of its Polish bank. *Bank share price rises sharply in Warsaw on sale talk. WARSAW, Oct 16- General Electric Co's announcement it may sell its Polish lender Bank BPH is an acknowledgement it failed to make the business thrive, even though Poland is one of the few places in Europe where banking is still in robust health.

*Exxon Mobil says refinery strategic regardless of EU policy. ANTWERP, Belgium, Oct 16- Exxon Mobil is pouring $1 billion into a refinery in the European Union, setting aside concerns ranging from poor margins to EU green energy rules due to be agreed next week that will cut demand for oil. Heavy industry and some nations, such as coal-dependent Poland, have argued...

*Exxon Mobil says refinery strategic regardless of EU policy. ANTWERP, Belgium, Oct 16- Exxon Mobil is pouring $1 billion into a refinery in the European Union, setting aside concerns ranging from poor margins to EU green energy rules due to be agreed next week that will cut demand for oil. Heavy industry and some nations, such as coal-dependent Poland, have argued...

PARIS, Oct 12- Health checks on Europe's banks may reveal takeover targets, but because protectionist regulation across the region has yet to be addressed, any post- "stress test" tie-ups are likely to be along national lines and could make a splintered industry more so. The European Central Bank takes direct authority over the currency area's 120 top banks on Nov. 4...